Five former employees at Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the health system Oct. 21 regarding its retirement plan.
Here are six things to know:
1. The complaint, which was reviewed by Becker's, was filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and alleges that Lehigh Valley breached fiduciary duties related to its 403(b) savings plan.
2. The employees claim Lehigh Valley did not appropriately manage the plan's recordkeeping and administrative costs, leading to excessive fees for participants.
3. Lehigh Valley allegedly improperly used forfeited funds from savings plan participants to reduce company contributions instead of lowering recordkeeping costs for participants, the complaint said.
4. The recordkeeping fee for Lehigh Valley's average plan participant was allegedly more than triple the average fee for other similar plans between 2018 and 2022, the complaint said.
5. The lawsuit names the system's board of directors and its executive compensation committee as defendants.
6. "We have just been made aware of the complaint and have no comment at this time on active litigation," Lehigh Valley said in a statement shared with Becker's on Oct. 22.